hight

See also: Hight

English

Alternative forms

• highte

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aɪt
• IPA^(key): /haɪt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: height

Etymology 1

From Middle English highten, variant of hoten (“to name, to be named”), from Old English hātan. The stem of the word was remodelled by analogy with the simple past form hight, from Old English hēht. Cognate with Scots hecht, Dutch heten, German heißen, etc.

Verb

hight (third-person singular simple present hights, present participle highting, simple past and past participle hight)

1. (archaic, transitive) To call, name.

   King Arthur's court was hight Camelot.

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene‎^[1], page 209:

     He that made loue vnto the eldeſt Dame, Was hight Sir Huddibras, an hardy man […]

   • 1812, Lord Byron, “Canto I”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. A Romaunt, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […]; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and John Cumming, Dublin; by Thomas Davison, […], →OCLC, stanza III:

     Childe Harold was he hight.

   • 1905, Howard Pyle, “The Story of Launcelot”, in The Story of the Champions of the Round Table‎^[2], New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, page 66:

     “Lord,” said Sir Launcelot, “I am hight Launcelot, and am surnamed ‘He of the Lake.’”

2. (archaic, copulative, with a name as complement) To be called or named.

   I hight Sir Galahad.

   • c. 1547, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, The faithful Lover declareth his Pains and his uncertain Joys, and with only Hope recomforteth somewhat his woful Heart:

     Bright was her hue, and Geraldine she hight.

   • 1567, Ovid, The.xv.Bookes of P. Ouidius Naſo, entytuled Metamorphoſis, tranſlated oute of Latin into Engliſh meeter, by Arthur Golding, Gentleman:

     In all the worlde one onely face of nature did abide, which Chaos hight

   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), W. Shakespere [i.e., William Shakespeare], A Pleasant Conceited Comedie Called, Loues Labors Lost. […] (First Quarto), London: […] W[illiam] W[hite] for Cut[h]bert Burby, published 1598, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

     There did I ſee that low ſpirited Swaine […] which as I remember, hight Coſtard […]

3. (archaic, dialectal) To command; to enjoin.
   • 1872, John Stuart Blackie, Lays of the Highlands and Islands‎^[3]:

     Malaise priest of Innishmurry / Hights me go, and I obey.

Usage notes

• The word survives only in literary and dialectal use. It chiefly occurs in the past tense.

Derived terms

• behight

Translations

call — see call

be called — see also be called

• Belarusian: называ́цца impf (nazyvácca)
• Bulgarian: ка́звам се impf (kázvam se), нари́чам се (bg) impf (naríčam se)
• Burmese: ခေါ် (my) (hkau)
• Catalan: dir-se (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 叫 (zh) (jiào), 稱為 / 称为 (zh) (chēngwéi)

• Czech: jmenovat se (cs) impf
• Danish: hedde (da)
• Dutch: heten (nl)
• Esperanto: nomiĝi
• Faroese: eita (fo)
• Finnish: kutsutaan
• French: s'appeler (fr), se nommer (fr)
• Galician: chamarse
• German: heißen (de), sich nennen (de)
• Gothic: 𐌷𐌰𐌹𐍄𐌰𐌽 (haitan)
• Greek: λέγομαι (el) (légomai)
• Icelandic: heita (is)
• Italian: chiamarsi (it)
• Japanese: ...と言う (ja) (...という, ... to iu), ...という (ja) (...という, ... to iu), ...と申す (ja) (...ともうす, ... to mōsu) (humble)
• Khmer: ឈ្មោះ (km) (chmʊəh)
• Korean: ...(이)라고 부르다 (ko) (...(i)rago bureuda)
• Lao: ຊື່ (sư̄)
• Macedonian: се ви́ка (se víka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hete (no)

  Nynorsk: heita

• Old English: hātan
• Old Norse: heita
• Persian: گفته شدن (gofte šodan)
• Polish: nazywać się (pl) impf, zwać się (pl) impf (dated)
• Portuguese: chamar-se
• Russian: называ́ться (ru) impf (nazyvátʹsja), именова́ться (ru) impf (imenovátʹsja)
• Serbo-Croatian: (reflexive) zvati (sh), звати
• Slovak: volať sa impf
• Slovene: imenovati se (sl) impf
• Spanish: llamarse (es)
• Swedish: heta (sv)
• Thai: ชื่อ (th) (chʉ̂ʉ)
• Tibetan: use ཟེར (zer), ཞུ (zhu) (honorific) + possessor: ལ་དོན (la don) (oblique/dative-locative case) (ལ/-ར (la / -ra))
• Turkish: çağrılabilir
• Ukrainian: назива́тися impf (nazyvátysja)
• Vietnamese: được gọi là (vi)
• Volapük: panemön (vo)

Adjective

hight (not comparable)

1. (archaic) Called, named.

   Synonym: yclept

   • 1885–1888, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “Night 514”, in Supplemental Nights to the Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume (please specify the volume), [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC:

     […] there dwelt in a city of the cities of China a man which was a tailor, withal a pauper, and he had one son, Alaeddin hight.

Translations

called, named

• Russian: называ́емый (ru) (nazyvájemyj), имену́емый (ru) (imenújemyj)

Etymology 2

See height

Noun

hight (plural hights)

1. Obsolete form of height.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     High thron'd above all hights

2. Misspelling of height

References

• “hight”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• thigh

Middle English

Alternative forms

• huht, hihht, hihte, hiȝte, hiht

Etymology

From Old English hyht.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hixt/
• Rhymes: -ixt

Noun

hight

1. hopefulness, expectedness
2. gladness, satisfaction

Descendants

• English: hight (obsolete)

References

• “hight, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 24 May 2018.